The Broken
by ParzivalHallows
Summary: AN: Harry and Sirius don't know each other. Fudge didn't let Sirius read the newspaper so Sirius never broke out of Azkaban. Takes place in DH when the trio first started camping out in the different forests. (Sirius was also told that Harry had died as a baby). What happens when snatchers catch Harry and throw him in Azkaban...in the cell right next to Sirius?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Harry and Sirius don't know each other. Fudge didn't let Sirius read the newspaper so Sirius never broke out of Azkaban. Takes place in DH when the trio first started camping out in the different forests. (Sirius was also told that Harry had died as a baby). **

…

It was twilight. Harry had left the tent earlier that afternoon in search of food, and promptly got lost. Without knowing it, he had traveled well past the wards Hermione had put around their camp-sight and now he couldn't see them. He called out pointlessly for Ron and Hermione, but neither or answered him.

Shivering, Harry sat down on a tree knot and drew his knees up to his chest, rubbing his arms. He had goosebumps all over his body. He felt a growing dread. What if he never saw Ron and Hermione again? Would they be able to find the Horcrux's without him? Were they looking for him right now?

_What have I done? _Harry sighed. All thanks to his stupidity, Hermione was probably worrying about where he had gone off to; although it seemed clear to Harry that Ron wouldn't mind too much. Ron had done much complaining over the past week, and Harry had to resist the urge more than once to grab the Horcrux around Ron's neck and throttle him with it.

Now he sat like a bump on a log, shivering, as the darkness threatened to take hold of the half-lit sky. He closed his eyes, trying not to let terror grip him. _Think, _he told himself, _what would Ron and Hermione do? _

He tried switching places with Ron, wondering what he would have done in this situation – probably the same thing Harry was doing. Dismissing Ron, Harry thought about what Hermione would do.

_Try to find somewhere safe and hide. _Harry blinked open his eyes and looked around him. What place was safe? The only thing he saw that could provide some shelter was a rather small fox-hole. Could he try to camp out in there? The fox was most likely in there – he thought it might be somewhat of a giveaway if he was being chased around by an angry fox.

Harry looked up at the tree whose root he was resting upon. Could he perhaps climb up it? The trunk was smooth – it wouldn't work. Harry cursed loudly. Of all the rotten luck . . .

There was a crunching sound. Harry barely had time to turn around when he heard the shout: "_Incarcerous_!"

Long ropes bound Harry tightly and he tripped as he tried to free himself. Struggling, panting for breath, Harry tried to look around for who had conjured the ropes. There were people running towards him. He noticed that they were wearing masks.

_No! _Harry had not come all this way to be taken by Death Eaters. He struggled even harder, but cried out as the ropes tightened against him, leaving his skin red and scratchy.

"We got a live 'un!" called out the smallest one, who had lumbered towards him faster than the others. "Whadda we goinna do with 'im?"

The others had caught up with them. Harry counted four of them.

"Wha's your name, boy?" asked the largest in a low, growling voice.

"Dudley!" Harry said, thinking of the first name that came to mind. "Vernon Dudley."

"You 'ere that? Vernon Dudley!" he called to the others, who laughed. Harry struggled harder against the bonds.

"We ain't hearin' of no Vernon Dudley," one of them snickered.

"You know," said the largest man. "You lookin an awful lot like that 'Arry Potter."

"No," Harry struggled even harder. "I don't even know him!"

They all laughed. "You ain't been 'earin of 'Arry Potter? Where you comin' from boy?"

"I – I know of him!" Harry improvised. "But I don't know him, personally."

"You look about Hogwarts age," said another one – a woman with a deep voice. "Surely you'd know Harry Potter."

"Look, not everybody in school knows him, okay!" Harry exclaimed.

"You sure you ain't just in-pro-vizin'?" roared a new voice, it sounded thick with delight.

"Shut it," snapped the larger of the two. "You don' even know what your sayin'."

"'Ay, it ain't your job to boss me 'round!" he sounded angry.

"Says who? We need to decide what we're doin' with this 'ere boy."

"Vernon Dudley, he says," said the smallest. "What house you be in, Vernon?"

"Slytherin," said Harry automatically. They snickered. "Funny 'ow they all seem to wanna be in Slytherin when we find 'em, but none of 'em know where it's at."

"It's in the dungeons!" Harry exclaimed. "Under the lake!"

Harry couldn't see their faces behind the masks, but he could see the shock in their eyes.

"Well," said the smallest finally. "Lookie 'ere! We caught ourselves a snake!"

"Whadda we do wit' him?" asked the one with the thick voice.

They all seemed to be looking at the largest one. His gray eyes were narrowed with concentration.

"We'll take 'im to Azkaban," he said after awhile. "Then the other's can take 'im."

Azkaban? "No!" Harry struggled even harder against the bonds, but finally the woman pointed her wand straight at him. "_Stupefy_!"

The last thing Harry saw before his world went dark was a stream of red light headed his way.

…

Sirius Black had been in the middle of a fitful nap when suddenly the cell's door next to him was thrown open. Two Death Eaters were dragging an unconscious boy and they threw him in the cell unceremoniously. In the dim glow, Sirius couldn't make out his features, but he could see a mess of black hair and glasses on the boy.

Sirius had watched over him all that night. This boy wasn't the first teenager to be brought in here; there had been about forty others. None of them made it very long in here.

The last time this cell had been occupied a boy managed to kill himself by banging his head against the raggedy stone wall repeatedly and succeeding in breaking his skull. There were still dark stains from the blood that nobody had bothered to clean up properly.

The next morning a musky light filled the damp halls of Azkaban and casted an eerie glow on the cells inside.

For the first time Sirius saw the boy completely. He looked oddly familiar, but Sirius just couldn't place it. For a moment, a happier time flew in front of his eyes, and his best friend lurked inside his memory, but Sirius shook it away. The boy might have looked like James, but there were also some features that just didn't belong to his best friend. For example, the boy's cheek bones were higher, giving him a more angular face. His nose was straighter than James's was – though, admittedly, seeing as James broke his nose in second year it wouldn't have been straight for a while. His lashes were thicker, and his lips were slightly bigger. He also seemed to be covered in lacing bruises that looked to have been made from a rope.

The boy let out a groan and Sirius automatically perked up, watching the boy stir. The boy's eyes fluttered open and Sirius saw a shock of emerald green. Lily flashed across his mind, but he dismissed that thought also, because Harry James Potter was dead.

"Who are you?" the boy finally asked, his voice weak. "Where am I?"

"You're in Azkaban Prison . . . I'm Sirius Black."

Sirius waited for the wince, the backing up, the scared look, but this boy did none of those things.

"Damn." He cursed. "I was hoping it was a nightmare."

"What's your name?" Sirius asked, without any real curiosity.

"H – Vernon Dudley."

"How'd you manage to land yourself in here, Vernon? Mouth off to a Death Eater's mum?"

Harry chuckled. "Not quite. I was camping with some friends" this wasn't a complete lie "and I had gone out to get some food. Then out of nowhere four Death Eaters were there. They had bound me up, and then brought me here."

"Ah," said Sirius knowledgably. "Snatchers."

"Snatchers?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah – there's not a lot of Death Eater snatchers, but they try to round up Muggle-borns and blood traitors. Bring them here most of the time. Sometimes they kill them right on the spot."

Harry shivered. "I'm neither," he said. "I'm a half-blood."

Sirius glanced at him curiously. "You think the pure-blood in your family is considered a blood-traitor?"

Harry thought about his dad. He thought about how his dad had married a Muggle-born, how he fought valiantly against Voldemort in the Order right until the end. "Yeah," he said finally. "That must be it."

There was silence between the two. Neither knew what to say. "It's horrible," said Harry finally, "how they're treating people like this. Did you hear about how they're registering Muggle-borns?"

"Oh, I heard it alright," Sirius snarled. "Sick bastards."

"Do you know anyone who's a Muggle-born?" Harry asked him.

Sirius nodded stiffly. "I did."

"I do to," Harry leaned back against the cool stone wall. "She's one of my best friends."

Suddenly Harry wished he had kept his mouth shut. Now they would try to use her against him!

"Yes . . . she was one of my best friends too. The Muggle-born I knew," Sirius added, thinking of Lily.

"Did she – is she still –" Harry started awkwardly.

"She's dead," Sirius's voice quavered. "She was killed. By Voldemort."

"By Voldemort himself?" Harry questioned.

"She got in his way," Sirius said simply.

Harry glanced down. It reminded him of his own mother, and how she had died protecting Harry. Someone who he wanted.

"Something like that happened to me once…" Harry sighed. "He just got rid of her . . . as though she were a mere obstacle. . ."

They both sat in silence, again. "…and the worst part is," Harry continued. "I have to live with that knowledge every day."

Sirius looked at the boy, startled. "Don't beat yourself up, Vernon. It's not like Voldemort was after you."

Sirius blanched at the look Harry gave him. "Oh . . . I'm – I didn't –"

"It's okay," Harry shrugged. "I'm used to it." _In so many different ways…_

"Can I ask – why?"

That was a question Harry never thought he'd hear. Why was Voldemort after the famous Harry Potter? The sentence itself was laughable, but this was no laughing matter. Because Harry Potter wasn't Harry Potter anymore – no, he was Vernon Dudley; a Slytherin half-blood who managed to get himself caught by snatchers on a camping trip and landed in Azkaban prison.

Harry had to come up with more stuff on this new 'Vernon Dudley'. All the better for questioning.

"It's kind of a long story…" Harry began hesitantly.

"I've got the time," Sirius offered.

Harry glanced at him, his mind buzzing. What was he supposed to say? Come on . . . think up something . . . Then it hit him: His own life story – in a different perspective.

"My parents were working against Voldemort. He tried very hard to kill them. Though he wanted to get revenge on my parents by going after me."

"Blimey," said Sirius, shocked. "Where are your parents now?"

Harry grimaced. "They're dead."

There was a shocked silence. "I'm sorry," Sirius mumbled.

Harry shrugged. "It's okay, it happened when I was a baby so I don't remember it much . . ."

"But still – it's sad."

"People die … but life goes on."

Sirius gave him a respectful glance. "Couldn't have said it better myself, although sometimes I do like to think the opposite…"

"Doesn't everybody?" Harry said, and they both laughed.

"Well, how old are you then, Vernon?"

"'M seventeen." Harry mumbled, still not used to being called 'Vernon'.

"When's your birthday?"

"When's yours?" Harry countered.

Sirius chuckled. "June 17th."

"Really? Mine's the 31st of July."

"Both summer," Sirius smiled sadly.

"Yeah."

Suddenly Sirius looked thoughtful. "My friend's son was born on that day . . . but he passed. Killed by Voldemort."

Harry looked at him curiously. "I'm sorry," he said. He wanted to ask more, but held himself back at the last minute seeing Sirius's face.

"As you said, life goes on," there was so much misery in Sirius's voice that Harry had to wince.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked abruptly, hoping to change the subject. This, apparently, was not the best subject change.

Sirius had suddenly turned bitter. "Apparently I committed a murder," he snarled. "but I didn't. It was another bastard, he framed me!" Sirius fumed quietly for a few moments.

Harry didn't know what to say to that. He was just about to change the subject again when suddenly his cell door was blasted open.

Harry jumped and leaned against the bars closer to Sirius, who was watching the exchange carefully and slightly nervously. This didn't help Harry's esteem much.

A masked face entered amidst the flying dust and walked menacingly towards Harry, who could see metal chains in its hands.

Harry gulped as the Death Eater stopped right in front of Harry and started to shackle him. Harry struggled at first but the Death Eater pulled out its wand and Harry automatically stiffened.

"Come on," said a deep woman's voice and Harry was surprised to hear it was the same one he had 'met' yesterday.

Harry glared at her, stubbornly staying on the ground. The Death Eater let out an impatient sigh and lifted him with surprising power by the collar of his shirt. "Get moving," she snarled, and pushed him forward so he stumbled slightly.

Harry didn't even look back at Sirius as he was forced out of the cell. Sirius wanted badly to call him back, but knew it would do no good now. Vernon Dudley was as good as dead.


	2. Chapter 2

To say Sirius was surprised to see Harry – slightly sweaty and shaky, but otherwise unharmed – would have been an understatement.

"Blimey!" Sirius gasped as Harry was thrown unceremoniously back into his cell. "How'd you survive there?"

Harry was trembling, but he answered anyway. "I dunno. They didn't seem to want to kill me."

"What did they do?"

"They used the Cruciatus Curse a few times. It was strange; they didn't ask me questions or anything." His voice was growing steady, but he was still shaking slightly.

Sirius looked at him with a mixture of sympathy and horror. "I can't believe they'd do that. To a kid no less."

"I'm not a kid," Harry said crossly.

Sirius didn't answer. Harry glared at him.

"I'm not a kid!" He repeated again. "I haven't been for a while," he added quietly.

Sirius frowned at him. "If you say so."

Harry didn't say anything, but continued to glare at him.

"Well, ex_cus_e _me_!" Sirius exclaimed angrily after a while of Harry's relentless glaring. "I was just saying!"

Harry sighed and turned away from him. "Don't worry about it."

Sirius's anger ebbed away. "Don't worry about it – kiddo."

Harry sighed. "How would you like it if I called you a murderer?"

Sirius glared at him. "I wouldn't."

"Now you know how I feel about 'kid'." Harry said smugly.

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius waved it off. "Whatever."

Harry smirked at the ground.

…

_The Next Day_

Harry woke with a start, clutching his scar. Sirius looked at him worriedly. "What is it?"

"Hermione … Ron … no …" Harry kept muttering under his breath, a hand against his scar.

"Vernon, what is it!?"

"No . . . Ron . . . Hermione . . ." Harry was gasping for breath. His eyes were out of focus, and he was shaking. "No, no, no, no, no…"

"Come on, snap out of it kid!" Sirius added the 'kid', hoping to get a reaction out of him.

Harry wasn't affected. "No, Ron – Hermione – Bellatrix!"

Sirius froze at the mention of his cousin. "What?" he said hoarsely.

"She has them – no . . . she's torturing them!"

"Vernon what are you talking about!?" Sirius exclaimed, scared. "What's wrong with you?"

"She has them," Harry repeated, though Sirius wasn't sure if he was speaking to him or not. "She's torturing Hermione … Ron's in the cellar. Luna and Ollivander are there too!"

"Ollivander?" Sirius echoed. "The wand-maker?"

Harry looked at Sirius as though he had suddenly turned into a platypus. "Do you know any other Ollivanders?"

"No," Sirius said, looking at him curiously. "How do you know this? It was probably just a nightmare."

"No," Harry protested angrily. "It wasn't – it was a vision. I've had them before . . ." Harry was thinking about Lupin, and how he had almost died in the trap sent by Voldemort. Luckily Harry managed to pull him before he fell into the Veil.

"A vision? Seriously, Vernon, listen to what you're saying! A vision?" Sirius repeated as though he had never heard of the word before.

"Yes!" Harry cried in outrage. "How many times do I have to tell you?!"

"At least once more," Sirius argued. "Are you a Seer? Because if you aren't you're not getting visions."

"I'm not a Seer," Harry growled. "And I'm not crazy. I've been having visions since my fourth year at Hogwarts. It's a long story …" he sighed. "And Dumbledore knows about it." He added.

Sirius looked slightly mollified. "Dumbledore knows you're getting visions? He said they were actual visions?"

"YES!" Harry exclaimed, and Sirius backed down.

"If Dumbledore said so – I guess you may be having visions," he sounded doubtful. "So what happened in this – vision?" he had almost said nightmare.

"Hermione – she's my Muggle-born friend – was with my other best friend Ron. And they used Voldemort's name … I don't know, the wards around them broke and they were being chased. They were tied up and Fenrir Greyback was with them and the next thing I saw they were at the Malfoy Manor. They had the sword of Gryffindor with them, and Bellatrix flipped. She started torturing Hermione for information while they threw Ron downstairs in the cellar where Ollivander and my other – er – friend was being kept."

There was a shocked silence. "That's – quite a vision," Sirius breathed.

"Yeah," Harry looked on the verge of tears. "It's happening now. Voldemort must be there."

"Why would you think Voldemort's there?"

Harry hesitated. If he told Sirius how he could see into Voldemort's mind, then Sirius would either be skeptic or know that he was Harry and not Vernon. On the other hand, Sirius seemed trustworthy. He had kept all of Harry's secrets so far.

"Listen, I'm going to have to explain this all later. But we –" Suddenly Harry shuddered, as though doused in icy water.

Sirius automatically backed away to the far side of the wall, shivering, and closing his eyes with a pained expression. Tears started to form.

Harry was still – staring frozen to the spot. A dark hooded figure seemed to glide towards them. "Nooooo…"

The world started to go black, he could hear the sound of rushing water in his ears. Then somebody screamed. At first he wasn't sure who it was coming from. It was definitely a man's voice – it was different than the other times he'd been affected by the Dementors. An image of the boy who shared the cell next to him flashed in his mind. He was in pain, writhing on the ground and instantly Sirius could tell that he was the one screaming. He wanted to help him, but he couldn't control his thoughts.

A moment later he snapped out of it as the Dementor slid away, obviously satisfied with its meal. Gasping, he shot up from where he had fallen on the floor. He looked around nervously, before remembering what he had been frightened of in the latest vision. "Vernon…" he muttered. He turned to look at Harry, and was shocked to see that he was convulsing on the floor.

"Vernon – VERNON!"

After about a minute the convulsions stopped, and Harry went rigid. Sirius held his breath, waiting – hoping – that he would wake up soon. Whatever had happened in this kid's life, it must have been bad to elicit that effect from a Dementor.

Harry's eyes fluttered open. Sirius could see the confusion and fear etched in his emerald orbs, but a second later the emotions disappeared and Harry sat up again, staring at Sirius.

"What happened?" he asked.

Sirius gaped at him. "You don't remember?"

"It was a Dementor, right?"

"Yeah. You just sort of went rigid. Had this fit or something."

Harry sighed. "I thought they stopped."

"Does that happen every time you come across a Dementor."

A bitter smile came upon Harry's face. "Always. I almost died once from it."

"Dementor's tried to kill you?"Sirius asked, shocked. As far as he knew they only sucked out your soul, which was worse than death in his opinion.

"No, well…I don't know if they were aware they were doing it. You see our fourth year is when…well, it's when Voldemort came back. They had Dementor's stationed at school."

Sirius averted his gaze. He'd overheard about the Dementor's at Hogwarts.

"One of them came on the train, but my Professor Lupin –"

"Lupin? As in Remus Lupin?"

"Er – yes, why, do you know him?"

"Do I?" Sirius was smiling. "We were best mates in Hogwarts!"

Harry studied him curiously. "He never mentioned you to me."

Sirius's face fell. "Well, why would he? I'm a monster to him, aren't I?"

Harry didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry. It must be hard for you."

Sirius shrugged. "What were you saying about the Dementors?"

Harry explained about how one of them had gotten on the Hogwarts Express, and how Lupin had used a Patronus Charm to scare it away. He told all about how after a Dementor almost killed him during a Quidditch Match, Lupin finally succeeded in teaching Harry the charm himself.

"Sounds like him," Sirius said after Harry finished the tale. "What's he like now? How is he?"

"He's –" Harry cut himself off and looked at Sirius curiously. "You know, I only have your word that you're innocent."

For a minute, Sirius looked as though he were about to strangle Harry through the bars in the cell, but a moment later his face relaxed. "And who would believe the word of a criminal?"

"It's not that, it's just I've had a lot of experience with people who were supposedly innocent," he spat 'supposedly' out, like it left a vile taste on his tongue.

Sirius observed this with great interest, but figured it wouldn't do much good to patronize Harry with questions. "So, Vernon," he said, "the family you're living with now, are they…?" he trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging.

"They're muggles," Harry explained. "They don't want anything to do with the Wizarding world, they're kind of medieval about the whole witches and wizards thing."

"Ouch."

"Definitely."

"Well, at least they weren't obsessed with the Wizarding world, like my parents."

"How do you mean?"

Sirius debated on whether or not he should tell this stranger, who he had just met, his whole life story. A moment later he figured he was damned anyway, so why not get some stuff off his chest. "They were obsessed with the Dark Arts."

"They were Death Eaters?" Harry asked, shocked.

Sirius shook his head in disgust, "No, but they were just like it. My brother became one though…they were so proud…"

"Who's your brother?" Harry asked curiously.

"His name was Regulus. He died many years ago. Killed by Voldemort. Apparently he had tried to back out, but it's a life or death pact."

Harry was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Don't be. He knew exactly what he was getting himself into. Me, on the other hand," he laughed bitterly, "I ran away when I was sixteen."

"Where'd you go?" asked Harry curiously.

"My best mate's house."

"Lupin?"

"No, my other best mate," Sirius said, a painful expression on his face. "He died long ago too…"

Hearing the pain in Sirius voice made Harry think about his own friends, and what they were going through. "I have to find them," he muttered.

"What?" Asked Sirius distractedly, still caught up in his own memories. Harry didn't answer him, instead he got up from the cell floor and looked around. Sirius watched curiously as he walked all around the cell, inspecting and memorizing every detail.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Sirius finally asked, confused.

"I need to get out of here. I need to find my friends."

"Get out? Are you insane, this is bloody Azkaban!"

Harry turned to face him. "I'm going to find a way out, with or without your help."

Sirius turned his head slightly to the side. "Are you saying what I think you're saying…?"

Harry smiled slightly, "Are you up for it?"

"Am I? I've been in this prison sixteen bloody years, of course I'm ready to get out!" Sirius exclaimed enthusiastically. "When do we start?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Previously: Harry turned to face him. "I'm going to find a way out, with or without your help." _

_Sirius turned his head slightly to the side. "Are you saying what I think you're saying…?" _

_Harry smiled slightly, "Are you up for it?" _

"_Am I? I've been in this prison sixteen bloody years, of course I'm ready to get out!" Sirius exclaimed enthusiastically. "When do we start?" _

…

It was no easy task, trying to figure out how to break out of Azkaban. After all, nobody had ever done it before. This little fact both thrilled Sirius, and made him a bit heavy-hearted. Nobody had ever done it before, so who was he to go around thinking that him and a seventeen year old would be able to get out of here?

Still, the thought of something challenging made Sirius's heart leap. He was never one to back down from a challenge, even one as suicidal and foolish as this one.

Harry was sitting down in the middle of his cell, worrying his lower lip. His eyes were vague – he was obviously deep in thought. Sirius watched Harry – or the boy he believed to be Vernon – for a while, waiting to see what brilliant plan he could come up with.

After a while Harry let out a string of curses so colorful even Sirius had to feel a bit proud. He smirked without any real emotion as Harry started pacing back and forth angrily in his cell. "Have you thought of anything yet?"

"Nothing – not a single bloody thing," Harry gritted out, looking very displeased with himself. "At this point sprouting wings and flying away seems more likely than any idea I've been able to come up with."

At this Sirius perked up. "What….what did you say?" his voice was hallow, and Harry turned to look at him strange. "Not a single bloody thing?"

"No, no… about the wings…"

Harry cocked his head, trying to keep the disbelief out of his eyes. "You actually think that we'll be able to sprout wings? You're joking."

He felt his eyes widen when Sirius didn't respond. "You're…you're not joking…"

Sirius seemed to snap out of his daze as he sent Harry a glare, "I'm not crazy, Vernon. Not yet at least. I don't think that it's possible for someone to suddenly sprout wings."

Harry looked slightly appeased, but Sirius hadn't finished. "I however, do know a way to get out of here," his voice had gained excitement. "All because of you!"

"I…but… _what?" _

"Animagus! I'm an animagus!" Sirius sounded shocked by this statement; as though he would never have guessed that he could change into an animal at will.

Harry stared at him incredulously. "What's an animagus?"

It was Sirius's turn to look disbelieving. "You don't know what an animagus is?"

"Well, I've learned about it, but I wasn't really paying attention –"

"How about I show you," Sirius said with a grin. Harry looked on the verge of declining, but Sirius had already transformed.

Harry blinked. Where a man had once been, was now a very shaggy, very thin and very large black-haired dog. Harry might have mistaken him for a grim.

"S-Sirius?"

The dog wagged its tail and approached the bar cells, sticking his long black snout into Harry's cell. Harry was too shocked to do anything but stare.

Sirius let out a sort of whining noise at Harry's lack of reaction, and transformed back into a man. "Well, I was at least expecting a yell," he sounded slightly put-out. Harry couldn't stop staring at him.

Sirius sighed and kneeled down next to Harry's cell. "I think I've found us both a way out of here."

…..

"Are you sure refusing food is going to help you any?" Harry asked for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Days had gone by since Sirius revealed to Harry that he was an animagus. Sirius sighed and turned to Harry, "it's the only way I'll be thin enough to slip through those bars as Padfoot," he explained.

"Yeah but – hang on…" Harry trailed off and stared at Sirius, open-mouthed. "Did you say Padfoot?"

Sirius frowned, "Yeah… why does that name mean something to you?"

"Does it?" Harry sounded excited and suspicious at the same time. "You helped create the Marauders map! You -"

"How do you know about the map?" Sirius cut in sharply.

Harry frowned, "my friends found it in Mr. Filch's desk drawer."

Sirius stared at him for a moment before letting out a barking laugh. "It lives on!"

"You helped make it?"

"I did," Sirius said, sounding smug.

"Wow," Harry breathed, "I can't believe it."

Sirius chuckled, "You'd better believe it."

"Who else made it?"

Sirius leaned his head back against the wall, "Well let's see, there was me, Moony – that's Professor Lupin…. _Pettigrew…_" he all but spat out the name. "Was Wormtail, and then finally…" he trailed off, and there was such sadness in his eyes that Harry thought a piece of his heart broke.

"Sirius?"

"And finally there was –"

His speech cut off abruptly at the sound of cell bars being opened. Harry backed up until he was against the bars of Sirius's cell. Sirius wondered why, until he realized that Harry's cell had been the one that was open. Sirius thought his eyes popped out of his head when he spotted his cousin standing between Harry and freedom. She looked at Harry with pure glee.

"It's him alright," she said to the Death Eater who accompanied her. Sirius half-expected them to rip Harry away right then and there, but to both of their surprises she shut the cell door again. Harry visibly relaxed, but then stiffened again at her last words: "Your friends wanted me to tell you to say 'hullo'!" she started laughing as though this were the funniest thing in the world. Harry jumped up and grabbed the bars, glaring after her.

"What did you do to them!?" he bellowed, but Bellatrix was already striding away, still laughing. Sirius wasn't sure what to say to Harry. He was breathing heavily and Sirius half expected him to start punching the bars out of pure anger. He suddenly felt bad about starving himself - Harry had enough things to worry about, much less Sirius refusing to eat.

Twenty minutes later Sirius was still sitting down on the hard, cold floor, watching Harry as he paced around angrily. He had started off with yelling obscenities, and was now mumbling very quickly under his breath, seeming to forget that Sirius was there – or that he was even in Azkaban for that matter. The only thing that snapped him back into reality was the sudden cold that washed over them like a wave. A prisoner screamed from very far away, and Sirius covered his ears. He was so used to the screaming by now that it shouldn't affect him, but it did. Each day he rotted away in here, was another day that he started going insane.

Flashes of James and Lily and Harry flew before his eyes. He was remembering the last time he saw them all alive. The image was so clear that Sirius actually gasped out loud and covered his eyes. The image still burned bright. They were laughing, smiling as though everything was right in the world. Sirius wanted to scream at them, tell them to stop smiling – they were going to be dead by tomorrow – it wasn't right that they should be this happy when their death was only hours away. Even the baby Harry was letting out cooes of happiness as his parents doted on him.

At first he ignored Harry, focusing mostly on Lily's vibrant red hair, James's reckless grin, but when his attention was brought to baby Harry he instantly thought of Vernon.

Before he could dwell on the matter he heard another scream, and the scene was replaced by another, less happy one. It was the day that Sirius found James and Lily, dead. He was riding on his motorbike, fear making his heart pound. He knew that Wormtail had been the betrayer, he _knew _it. All this time he thought that Remus had been the one giving up information, when all along it had been the rat!

He found himself blinking tears out of his eyes as he slowly descended into Godric's Hollow. What he saw made his heart stop; his breath caught in his throat as he stared at the completely destroyed house that held his friends. The motorbike was dropping and Sirius wasn't in control of it anymore. It was all he took not to throw himself off the bike then and there – there was still hope. Maybe one of them had survived…

As soon as the bike hit the ground Sirius was off it, racing towards the house. Once he reached the door (which was already blast open) he hesitated. He sensed it. Death had fallen over this household.

With a shaky breath he carefully stepped through the doorway. At first everything seemed to be right; the china was put away nicely, the couches seemed warm and inviting, the floor seemed stable. It was the walls that caught Sirius's attention first. They were blast apart, and Sirius felt as though the whole house was about to crumble on him. He tried not to look at them as he walked through the drawing room, taking in everything. He saw the legs first.

The sight of them made Sirius sick to his stomach. He knew who they belonged to – but he had to see for himself. He needed to…

He was barely aware of his limbs moving as James Potter's body got closer and closer. It was only when he saw his face that Sirius fell to his knees. He let out a sound that was somewhere in between a cry and a howl of utter, complete sorrow. At that moment nothing mattered. His friend, _his James_, was lying on the ground. His eyes… his hazel eyes were empty. His face though, was filled with emotion. Shock, fear, determination… it was all there. His wand wasn't in his hand, and Sirius shook his head. There weren't tears enough for what he was seeing. He knew exactly what had happened just seeing his friend's face. James had never been caught by surprise in all the years that Sirius had known him. Even when Sirius showed up on his doorstep, asking to move in, James hadn't been shocked.

This though… it was completely different. It was alien, it was foreign; it didn't belong on his face. For a long moment all Sirius could do was stare at him. "J-James," his voice was filled with emotion. "Don't… please, wake up…"

He felt as though a part of him was missing. James didn't move, or respond at all to Sirius's pleads, which only grew stronger. "Don't leave me! James, JAMES WAKE UP!"

His mind refused what he was seeing. There was no way that James Potter… _JAMES POTTER… _was dead. It wasn't real. He was dreaming this up – this horrible nightmare. The tears came, streaming down his face. He'd never cried so hard, so much, in his life. He cradled James's body as though he were a baby, and rocked him back and forth. He took off James's glasses and closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to see those hazel eyes, those once reckless and happy eyes, empty. Now he looked as though he were just sleeping. Sirius had half a mind to pick him up and place him in bed.

No, he couldn't do that though. He had to find Lily and Harry, he needed to see…

Sirius wasn't sure why. He wasn't sure that his eyes would be able to take in the sight of Lily and a dead baby. Still, he got up and practically glided up the stairs. He wasn't in control of his body anymore – not really – his life seemed to have left him when he saw James dead.

He saw a shock of red hair. She was lying on the floor as well, right in front of Harry's crib. He tried to hold in a sob, but at the sight of her, crumpled on the floor as though she were nothing, he started crying hysterically. How had he hated this beautiful woman once in his life? How had he been jealous of her for taking up James's time? How had he ever had the guts to do something with Harry that she didn't approve of? How could he ever make anything up to her? "Lily I'm so sorry," he sobbed.

He cautiously entered the nursery, stepping over Lily's body. The nursery was the worst of the house. The roof and walls had been completely blown away, and the floor was rotted. He was waiting to hear crying, he was hoping to hear sobs from the crib. He moved towards it, expecting to see a dead baby.

There was nothing.

Not a hint that Harry had even been there. He was baffled – had Harry been kidnapped? Had he been there in the first place? Answers… answers that he would only get in Azkaban, where they threw him without a trial. He'd only been told one thing: Harry James Potter was dead.

With a loud gasp he woke up from the nightmare. The coldness had left him. He heard Harry moaning, but he couldn't find words. He'd never had a dementor affect him like that before. Had it done it on purpose? Was it aware that he and Harry were planning on breaking out? Did it somehow know?

"Sirius?" he heard Harry gasp from next to him. Sirius didn't think he was capable of moving at the moment, much less speaking.

"Sirius…" it was a groan this time, as though Harry were falling into a deep sleep. It took a while, but finally Sirius stirred. He sat up, shaking violently, and looked around for Harry. Harry had his knees drawn up to his chest; his head was buried in his hands, and Sirius was certain that he was crying. Sirius felt close to tears himself.

"Vernon…?"

Harry didn't answer. "Vernon…?"

"That's not my name," Harry finally spluttered out, looking up at Sirius. Tears were swimming in his eyes, but they hadn't fallen yet. "My name isn't Vernon Dudley. It never was."

"Then…then what is your name?"

"Harry Potter."


End file.
